The General Coming straight out of the woodworks is The General, a masterpiece of slapstick comedy in which Buster Keaton produced a landmark film at the end of the silent film era. Full of chase gags, nonstop action and daring stunts, The General is a grand example of Keaton's perfection of the medium and contains all the stylistic elements that make up a classic Buster Keaton film. This paper will examine how this film contains several Keaton comical trademarks that are a constant motif in the rest of his films from the silent film era. The General begins by introducing us to Johnnie Gray (Buster Keaton) and his two loves in life: his train engine and Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack), his girlfriend. Annabelle puts Johnnie out of her life after he is unable to enlist for the Conferderate Army and this sets up the film. Johnnie's train is hijacked by Union spies with Annabelle on board, leaving Johnnie behind to chase his two loves in life. The remainder of the film is a chase that is amazing and daring while Johnnie saves Annabelle and The General. The General, based on the book The Great Locomotive Chase by William Pittenger, is constantly in motion as Keaton keeps the pace of the film coinciding with the train. As with a great number of Keaton films, there seems to be a lot of thinking going on in his head as he completes each action or reaction of the gag. The routes and troubles Johnnie faces going up the tracks are the same ones he has to face on the way back. At the beginning of the chase to catch up to The General, Johnnie gathers an army of men and he places them on a train car while he takes over the engine of the locomotive Texas. It is several miles down the tracks before Keaton realizes he is alone, due to the car not being connected to the engine. This is necessary to the film, as the events that lay ahead would not occur with an army of troops helping Johnnie out. Johnnie sees opportunity in a cannon sitting on a trolley and hooks it to the Texas. The elements of slapstick go full speed ahead as Johnnie shoots the canon ball first into the cab of the engine. Going for more distance, he loads the entire keg of gun powder into the canon and magically aims the canon just right as The General goes around a bend. In a stunt that only Buster could have pulled off, Johnnie disconnects the trolley and gets caught up in a chain and is right in the target zone of the canon. In defense, he throws a log at the canon. In perfect timing, the canon shoots off just as the Texas curves around the bend and almost hits The General. This is probably the best stunt in the film, as it must have taken very precise timing to pull it off. The remainder of the film is all sight gags, breathtaking stunts, and Keatonesque maneuvers. The Union spies dump large wooden railroad ties onto the tracks to attempt derailing the Texas. Johnnie positions himself on the cow catcher after slowing the engine down and uses another heavy log to dislodge the other one on the rail. How it works and the number of takes this stunt took probably filled an entire editing room floor. After Johnnie rescues Annabelle back, she gets her leg caught in a bear trap. Being a gentleman, he gets her leg out only to get his leg and hand caught in the trap while she ignores his pain. After capturing back The General, a very simple and breathless gag speaks for itself as being brilliant. Annabelle is told by Johnnie to stock the fire after she sweeps the cab of the engine and just throws wood overboard naively. He motions for her to put the wood in the fire, not throw it overboard. So she picks up a small splinter of wood, the size of a pencil, and puts it in the fire. Johnnie then plays the scene out and picks up a piece of wood the size of a toothpick and gives it to her to put in the fire. Hiding his feelings he chokes her in a loving manner before kissing her on the lips. Several more gags are produced by incorporating two more trains about to collide with The General. Towards the end of the film, a maneuver involving the Union train crossing a bridge that Johnnie had started on fire is an amazing scene presented in a long shot to achieve a mesmerizing collapse. The shot, using an actual train and not done on a miniature set, is one of the greatest scenes in a Buster Keaton film. It is the ultimate stunt, and was never quite matched in its size in a Buster Keaton film. The film is a showcase for Buster Keaton's comic talents and his ability to conquer each stunt with breathtaking pace and timing. Not once in the film does he seem worried, or change his expression to reveal fear. Johnnie wants the engine back as much as he wants Annabelle back with him. In the pursuit of his two true loves, Buster Keaton as Johnnie Gray covers quite some distance in silent film history. It is one in a collection of Buster Keaton films that showcase a master at work. |
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